The Roommate Displacement
by MayMargaret
Summary: With Leonard away for 4 months, Penny and Sheldon try to survive without him. With the social glue missing, dire consequences ensue. (Poor summary, only just thought of it! :P)
1. Chapter 1

"Penny, Penny, PENNY!"

I'm going to change my name, she thought to herself with a sniff, and wiped the last tear from her chin away. She closed the book on her lap and made her way over to the door, not sure whether she was in the mood for him today. She hesitated for a moment; only in dire situations would he restart his routine again, and that would have to be done another 2 times to complete the cycle of 3's.

"Whutup, Shelbot," she droned as she opened the door, and glanced up at the tall figure in her doorway, the one she hadn't seen for a little over a week.

"I can't sleep," he moaned, his folded arms fidgeting close to his chest. He wasn't even changed from his day clothes.

"Me neither, Sweety," she sympathized, and he connected his eyes to hers for the first time. "Why not?" he almost whispered, looking weary on his feet.

"Because I have a giant praying mantis in my doorway!"

His shadowed eyes snapped away coldly, but he didn't even bother to make a retort. Sheldon without smart retorts was like...she couldn't even think of an analogy to word how worrying and wrong that was.

He turned away on his feet as she was staring, loosening his arms only to scratch nervously at the skin beneath his sleeve. He was like a zombie.

"Sheldon?"

He jumped at her voice slightly, and turned his profile to her.

"Tell me what's wrong."

He thought for a moment, not turning to her fully. "I've already told you; I can't sleep."

"There's more to it than that."

She went to grab his arm, but he flinched at the sudden movement. A sharp pain shot through her, one that only sharpened when his eyes turned for a moment back to her, filled with a fear that only a lonely child would have. Cold came over her, and she unconsciously wrapped her robe closer.

"I miss him too, honey. But he'll be back before we know it."

"Who?" he lied, judging by a noticeable twitch at the corner of his blue eye. She kept her laugh contained, seeing his struggle.

"The little homunculus, the muscle of your group," she hinted coyly, but her words were barely registered by a small nod.

"It's quiet in the apartment," he said, his deep voice catching on his dry throat.

Suddenly Penny realized what this was all about. Since the apartment was burgled a couple of years ago, Sheldon was terrified of living on his own. While the evening wasn't so bad, he viewed the night as a time where he was most vulnerable. She had never told Leonard that during his time with Priya, she would invite Sheldon over or she would go there, so he was never alone. She had almost forgotten that routine in the midst of her own misery and loneliness.

"Oh, Sheldon, I'm so sorry. Wait there-"

"It's fine, Penny, I'm on my way to Amy's," he snapped quietly, and Penny paused in the middle of her living room to turn to the wide open door.

"But it's 11:30!" she exclaimed, glancing fleetingly at the clock beneath a discarded cardigan on her TV stand. "If you're going to Amy's anyway, why did you stop by? Just to wake me up?"

A tiny smile pulled at his profiled lips, and he let out a tiny snort. "I knew you were not sleeping due to that infernal clicking of the glass, and I heard crying, so I didn't wake you."

She stood, routed and guilty, as his face turned momentarily to look at her. Silently, he walked away and disappeared down the stairwell, a new, fresh tear climbing down her cheek, before she even started thinking about Leonard again.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello?"

Penny smiled a small smile at the sound of her friend's groggy voice, feeling guilty at having woken her.

"Hey Ame's, did he get over there alright?"

"...did who get to where?" She asked sleepily, and she he heard a frown in her voice.

"Sheldon, is he alright now?"

"You called just to ask if the man who lives but 20 feet from is ok, at this hour?"

Penny checked herself for a moment, suddenly feeling like she was missing something from the sound of Amy's voice. While she was being rudely awoken at this time, she was always sharp as a tack.

"Penny," she groaned, breaking her thoughts, "just go to the door and knock. I highly doubt he'll send you to his class."

At that the phone went dead, leaving a long, low continuous beep in her ear. She placed it back on the coffee table slowly, and stared at the front door in confusion. She could have sworn...that's what he said. She hadn't had so much to drink that she was imagining it. Unless her tolerance had decreased...

Decidedly, she yanked open her door and marched over to his and Leonard's, and planted 3 knocks on the door in habit. Placing her hand on her hips, she waited for the sounds of thuds on the floor.

And waited.

"Sheldon, I'm not here to burgle you!"

Her only response was a silence, which almost convinced her the crazy scientist was too neurotic to answer. But what the hell! He was scarier than any thug to try and steal his from his Nerdvana!

Returning back to her apartment she grabbed the phone again, the door wide open in preparation to go back out.

"Sheldon, if you don't answer me I'm calling your mother," she taunted down the mouthpiece, and waited a full 5 minutes for it to ring and have his terrified voice beg her not to go through with it. Again, she left the apartment, and knocked on the door. Twice, in spite of his OCD.

With a final huff and a feeling of being ignored, she folded her legs on the floor and sat like a stubborn child with crossed arms.

"I'll stay here then," she yawned, and repeated the message after dialling his number, more of a whisper as her voice cracked midway, before setting her head back and fighting the tiredness seducing her eyes.

Why did you not leave a set of instructions, she cursed to her faraway boyfriend, imagining what he was doing out at sea while his roommate was missing.


	3. Chapter 3

Amy gently placed her cell back on the bedside table, but she didn't sleep as easily. For a few minutes, her fatigued mind wondered whether Penny was just _looking_ for an excuse to call at this ridiculous hour, but the ideas soon tugged her mind into the present. Then she reran through the conversation, and the psychologist in her acknowledged how tense her voice sounded, how sober her words sounded, no slurring at all, considering that she knew Penny would most likely spend a good part of Leonard's first week away intoxicated.

Her wanderings soon grew into unease, and that became concern, and within seconds she was scrolling through her contacts searching for one of the last names, and tapped on Sheldon's number. The cell was braced to her ear with clenched, shivering fingers.

_Ring ring...Ring ring..._

_"You have reached Doctor Sheldon Cooper's voice mail. Evidently I have been too busy to answer your call, please leave a message and I will listen when I have free time...It's Sheldon."_

"Sheldon, I know you don't like voice mails so call me back if you don't wish for anymore. Talk to Penny, she called me a couple of minutes ago and it wouldn't be for any _other_ reason," she half growled down the phone, her voice lowering with disappointment towards the end.

...

"Oooow..."

Penny groaned and turned her head against the solid surface behind it, the cramp in her neck pulling with each movement. She placed her numb hands on the floor to push herself up, but dizzyness came over her when she barely moved.

"Penny, you're not homeless."

Her eyes slowly glided open and found a pair of legs, long and skinny, connected to the man she had been searching for...for hours. She had no idea what time it was. He was staring down at her as if she was the lost one, his usual patronizing self.

"Sheldon," she moaned, and again tried to push herself from the floor, fighting the morning weakness.

"...A little help?"

The oblivious physicist looked less than impressed at the messy blond crowding his door, and so held a hand out to assist her desirably rapid departure.

"Thanks."

Her nodded a curt 'you're welcome', and stared down at his fingers fumbling with his keys.

"Sheldon, where did you go?"

His eyes remained avoidant, but he began answering straight away. "I found it was too far to Amy's so I stopped at Koothrappali's..." he excused, but he was hiding the side of his face, the one that was most likely twitching away like crazy.

"Ok Sweety," she replied, degenerated, and watched him depart silently into his apartment, placing aside her cell with his hand before he closed the door, which she grabbed instantly. She stared at the screen to find 4 missed calls and 3 voice mails.

_"Penny, I've tried Sheldon and he's not replying. I'm going to call Raj and Howard,"_

_"Penny, they don't know anything. They said to try...a ballpit? Maybe I heard that wrong."_

_"Penny, maybe he just went to the gas station bathroom or something."_

Penny listened, wide eyed after the second voice mail, and her eyes flitted to the opposing door. She considered knocking it, demanding an answer. Demanding why he had scared the girl who was supposed to be his girlfriend, her, and potentially his friends.

But why should she? He was not her problem, he was a grown man of 32. He could come and go when he pleased, he had functioning fists to defend himself against any assailants. The question that bothered her was...why did he lie? And where did he go? Something like going out into a world he was already weary of in the middle of the night was something Sheldon Cooper simply didn't do.


End file.
